How to discourage spam bots

[cruciatus]

Hi! ICYMI, today we had an incursion of spambots posting about porn sites. Thanks to the mods for taking care of it and promptly deleting all the spam threads these bots had posted.

 

I think this is the 3rd time in the last two months that something like this has happened (that I know of). Spammers incidents like this used to happen before but they seem to have become more frequent of late. What I've observed is that these bots create a new account on YO and then go on a posting spree. Today was the first time I noticed not one but bots under 3 different user names spamming the forum in the span of a few hours.

 

So I have a suggestion. Can we implement an email verification step during registration on YO? I think this additional measure might discourage bots who put in a fake email and random username just to get on the forums and post spam. YO can send a mail to the email id entered by an aspiring member, and they can successfully sign up only after clicking the link sent in the mail.

 

Perhaps there can be a cooling period after successful registration - newly registered members can view but not post in the forums. This can be done on a time basis - 12 hours, 24 hours OR credits basis. Maybe they can be allowed to view/post across the forum only after making a respectable self-introduction post.

 

I understand it's not possible for mods to be active 24x7, therefore if we have the means to do something like this, maybe the scourge of spam bots can be countered effectively.

[Racheal]

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yeah, yesterday and today Brid, Koha and I deleted lot of them, and all 4 users were banned. Usually when Key is around, he can delete the accounts along with all the posts that the user made in one go, and banned the ip addresses too. Unfortunately he is away at the moment. He will be back tomorrow tho' but I do agree with you.. some restrictions would help discourage these spam bots.

[Key]

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Sadly new bots are so advanced that they bypass email verification, and even image verification or capcha.

 

When we tried using email verification we still got bots and also the server got hung and the forums kept going down because of the big number of emails it had to send to bots, besides the emails the server has to handle to send to all people subscribed by email for PMs, threads, posts etc.

 

So we implemented a question and answer verification system and we regularly change the question. This has been the most effective method for us so far. I just changed the question now and we'll see if so many new bots still register the next days.

[cruciatus]

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Sadly new bots are so advanced that they bypass email verification, and even image verification or capcha.

 

When we tried using email verification we still got bots and also the server got hung and the forums kept going down because of the big number of emails it had to send to bots, besides the emails the server has to handle to send to all people subscribed by email for PMs, threads, posts etc.

 

So we implemented a question and answer verification system and we regularly change the question. This has been the most effective method for us so far. I just changed the question now and we'll see if so many new bots still register the next days.

 

I see. Hope this new method works. The problem got seriously out of hand today, I've never seen so much spam in a single day on the forums.

 

Aside from this, I hope you're feeling better now,

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. ^_^

[Key]

So, I have initially set up a new question, but it seems it was too hard, as it didn't stop just bots from registering, but also legit members XD So I opted for an upgraded version of reCapcha. Now let's see how effective it is.

 

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Thanks for asking, I am better indeed. (:

[Rebel Heart]

Why not make it so you can only write on the forums after introducing yourself on the forums first (like was suggested above) . people who want to download can still download and see everything. Maybe make a select active members of the community who are online around the cloak the welcome commity and they can along with mods and admins change the permissions to an active status for posting.

 

This is by the way not the only place it is happening, it's also happening at my scrobble site and some other site. seems the tumblr bots are now finding new targets or something. You almost want to implant algorithm for these type of post to auto ban and remove it.

[Key]

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Sadly just the admin can change the permissions, so it would be impossible for mods or other active members to do so.

 

Anyway, seems so far the new reCapcha did the trick.

[Rebel Heart]

I really wonder what the benefit is, it's not like people here want to go to unknown pornsites.

[Virdian*]

The spambots are striking again..

[Rumpleteaser]

Yep. They've been building for a while but today there seems to be a flood.

[cruciatus]

Sigh. This is too much, now there's spambots striking everyday and in force. I think I saw 50 posts about viagra in the last 24 hours! And not all sections of the forums are being purged of such spam threads. Is this the kind of YaoiOtaku we want prospective new members and the rest of the world to see?

 

If we can't have mods around the clock or a forum equipped to prevent multiple spam posts everyday, can't we use a more advanced reCaptcha during registration? Like the ones in which you select squares with cars or street signs. I read somewhere they're much more effective against bots.

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[Key]

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Yes, we have been seriously flooded these days.

 

You are right, cruciatus, that recapcha is the best, however, that one is recapcha 2, the 'I am not a robot' type. Just it sometimes displays images as well, sometimes it doesn't, it seems pretty random. However, vBulletin only accepts recapcha 1, which is long outdated, so I am using a modification just to enable recapcha 2. However the modification, which is the only one available, for some reason, doesn't display those images at all, but the 'I am not a robot' box.

 

We have been trying to spot them and delete them as soon as possible, but it takes ages, as a moderator can only delete one post at a time, for which he/she has to enter the thread, go to the moderation options, select Delete, then check a few more settings, then delete it, after which he/she is taken back to the main forum and has to navigate their way back to the forum section where the spams are and do it over and over again. So it does take a lot of time and these bots post hundreds of messages. Just yesterday I deleted 450 posts from 1 single bot.

 

So, I have subscribed for Akismet, an anti-spam option for sites and blogs and we'll see how it works, if it's effective or not.

 

If we notice it isn't effective, I am thinking to direct all new members to the Awaiting Moderation usergroup instead of the Registered Usergroup, so they will have to be manually approved before being able to post.

 

Thanks everyone for understanding, for your patience and for trying to help us find solutions, it's very much appreciated! (:

[fan_yaoi]

Thank you so much for your hard work:_red_fox 4

Thank you for taking your time to delete all those posts >.

 

 

i mean, why even posts/spams like that even exist.. o. O

 

Ohhhhh so thats why...

XD

 

Thank heaven, Now i can read my manga. All day long

 

 

[cruciatus]

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Yes, we have been seriously flooded these days.

 

You are right, cruciatus, that recapcha is the best, however, that one is recapcha 2, the 'I am not a robot' type. Just it sometimes displays images as well, sometimes it doesn't, it seems pretty random. However, vBulletin only accepts recapcha 1, which is long outdated, so I am using a modification just to enable recapcha 2. However the modification, which is the only one available, for some reason, doesn't display those images at all, but the 'I am not a robot' box.

 

We have been trying to spot them and delete them as soon as possible, but it takes ages, as a moderator can only delete one post at a time, for which he/she has to enter the thread, go to the moderation options, select Delete, then check a few more settings, then delete it, after which he/she is taken back to the main forum and has to navigate their way back to the forum section where the spams are and do it over and over again. So it does take a lot of time and these bots post hundreds of messages. Just yesterday I deleted 450 posts from 1 single bot.

 

So, I have subscribed for Akismet, an anti-spam option for sites and blogs and we'll see how it works, if it's effective or not.

 

If we notice it isn't effective, I am thinking to direct all new members to the Awaiting Moderation usergroup instead of the Registered Usergroup, so they will have to be manually approved before being able to post.

 

Thanks everyone for understanding, for your patience and for trying to help us find solutions, it's very much appreciated! (:

 

 

Thank you, Key. I realise that you've been thinking hard about the best possible solution to this problem. I'm sure everyone appreciates what you and the other mods do for YO. I've read good things about Akismet on the Wordpress platform, so here's to hoping it works out well for this forum too. Yeah, I only discovered now that reCaptcha plugin isn't compatible with our current vBulletin version. Still, thank you for keeping this channel of discussion open and letting us know your plan of action. (:

 

Thank you so much for your hard work:_red_fox 4

Thank you for taking your time to delete all those posts >.

 

 

i mean, why even posts/spams like that even exist.. o. O

 

Ohhhhh so thats why...

XD

 

Thank heaven, Now i can read my manga. All day long

 

 

HAHAHAHA now I wish I had one too, then I could actually put to good use the viagra from all those ads and voila! Holding my device erect would no longer be a problem. It would be my instrument to greet other BL lovers like me, and all the toxic imbeciles in the BL community would fear my mighty rod.

[Rumpleteaser]

Good luck!

[Virdian*]

Again, it seems like vietnamese spam bots are striking the forum.

[Virdian*]

They're even posting illegal sorts of porn here. How do they even get here?

[Kujaku]

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What about CleanTalk? There's a lot of spam again lately, so I was wondering what else is there against spam. CleanTalk seems a bit better than Akismet (that if we'd take their word for it).

 

And, just a thought, what about one subforum where new users can post first? Like Introduction for the first few messages or in the first 48h or so after registration since bots tend to post right after registration. I think that would make it easier for mods to delete the spam instead of searching all the forum and going back and forth for every spam message.

[Key]

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Thanks for your suggestion! I installed CleanTalk, we have a 7 days free trial to test it, then we'll buy it if it's good (:

[Fmkitty]

Hi, don't want to sound like a bother or complaining too much. But it seems bot accounts once again returned. Even if it is Russian ads, still, it's frustrating when the first thing you see after logging in, is the avalanche of this spam. So, not sure how this time they over-come the system, but hopefully, it won't become a daily routine to report them each time.

[Key]

We'll try various anti-spam options on the new platform as well. However most of them are accounts that have been registered for months, and now they activate the bots.

[crystald]

There is spam in:

Have a lovely day!

As always, Stay safe!

[Virdian*]

It's been some time since I've been here and it's sad to see this forum getting swamped by spambots. I don't know if the admins/moderators are still active here but maybe it would be best to implement some new Captcha system or other verification steps like only allowing emails from trusted providers like Gmail. 

[Key]

Yes, we did implement new captcha, an image captcha which is harder to solve by bots and changed the security questions as well. This should keep them at bay for a while (: